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Translation - EnglishAs a child I admired the horse’s clairvoyance for orienting itself in its goings and comings; I admired the dog’s nose for returning, by night or by day, or in the midst of a gale, to whence it departed no matter how far it strayed, or the cat’s infallible accuracy for always finding its way home after its adventures. I do not have these, nor do I have the invaluable sense common to the majority of humans for orienting themselves on streets and routes, or in places they have never seen or have scarcely been only once. I myself get hopelessly lost when I stray from my habitual circuits. Deprived of the gift of orientation, incapable of abstracting, discerning and calculating where it is so necessary, places I don’t frequent are unreachable for me, and I would never arrive if someone did not take me or if I did not let myself be guided by people who know. Fatally subject to my poor perception, I don’t know how to go or how to get back, and I’m incapable of overcoming my handicap. I cannot, I do not learn, I do not understand, and a map tells me nothing about my location. I have no internal compass, no gift whatsoever for representation, and as far as the cardinal points are concerned, I never learned where they were. All of this, of course, favors my tendency toward immobility. To avoid the risk of living lost, I try not to stray from familiar scenarios. Little can draw me outside of my neighborhood and, as far as possible, I try to make sure that my social life never extends beyond it. Nothing could be more alien to me than the spirit of the explorer. I invert directions and tend to situate on the left what has always been on the right; if I leave my car parked far from my house, when I want to return, I look for it on the side where it’s not, wasting enormous amounts of time solving something that should never have been a problem to begin with.

KOVADLOFF, Santiago. “Soliloquy of a lost person” in A Biography of the Rain. Emecé ensayo, Buenos Aires (2004).

Bachelors degree in Spanish Language and Culture (University of Oregon); coursework towards a Masters degree in Spanish Language and Culture (New York University). I was born in Switzerland, grew up in Washington, D.C. in a diplomatic family and have lived in Spain since 1991. I am currently pursuing a professional certificate in Translation Studies from New York University to continue improving my skills and broaden my expertise.

I am interested in establishing ongoing relationships with international consulting firms, book and magazine publishers, news organizations, film and television production companies, software development companies, universities and other organizations and individuals needing prompt, clear, accurate, thoughtful translations where the quality of the translation equals or surpasses that of the original.